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Christie cheers huge volunteer effort after Sandy

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Gov. Chris Christie gave the keynote speech today at the Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service in Washington, D.C. More than 165,000 volunteers came to New Jersey's rescue after Hurricane Sandy, he said. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

TRENTON — An army of more than 100,000 volunteer workers from around the country rushed to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, manning shelters and food banks, fixing power outages and lifting spirits, Gov. Chris Christie said today in a speech in Washington, D.C., thanking them for their help.

Appearing as the keynote speaker at a conference on volunteering and service hosted by the nonprofit group Points of Light, Christie said 473 volunteer organizations have helped New Jersey recover from Sandy, the worst natural disaster in state history.

Nearly 165,000 volunteers have been involved thus far just from 88 of those groups, he said.

"Over a million pounds of food and 5 million meals were served through organizations like the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, the Southern Baptists, the Salvation Army, and the American Red Cross," Christie said. "Workers from around America volunteered to come to New Jersey, literally got in their trucks and drove themselves to New Jersey ... 17,000 volunteers who came to New Jersey during that period of time."

The governor said the state was battered like never before by the storm, with "365,000 homes (that) were damaged or destroyed."

"One of the most amazing things to me to make you understand is how completely debilitated our state was on the morning of Oct. 30, 2012," he said. "We have 8.8 million residents in New Jersey -- 7 million of them were without power."

The Republican governor then had a short back-and-forth on the importance of keeping volunteer groups non-partisan with Points of Light chief executive Michelle Nunn -- a potential Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Georgia -- and Wendy Spencer, chief executive of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

"You know, 25‑foot waves coming onto your shoreline don't know partisanship," he said. "And I think that if this country wants to move forward and reach our full potential, we better start thinking that way about most things and not just about emergencies."

When the storm hit, First Lady Mary Pat Christie set up a relief fund for storm victims. The fund has so far collected $37 million in donations, Christie said.

"Most of that money is being put in reserve to help to fund the gap between what (displaced residents) get from the federal government, what they got from the insurance company, and what it's costing them to get back into their homes," he said.